Australian Immigration Daily News

Australia’s health care system is among the best in the world, but it’s complicated and can be confusing for visitors to navigate. 

Migration agents play a pivotal role in explaining the health system to newcomers, helping them decide which private health insurance provider and plan to choose, answering any questions they have, and discussing any concerns about accessing health care in Australia and the costs associated with this.

In this article we’ve broken down how health care is delivered in Australia to make it easier for you to guide your clients through this complicated topic and arm them with the knowledge they need.

With your help they’ll feel confident they know exactly what to do if they are sick or injured.

Essentially, health care in Australia is provided by both a public system and a private system.

The public system

The public health system provides free or subsidised health care via the government-funded
Medicare system for:

 Australian citizens
 Australian permanent residents
 Applicants for Australian permanent residency
 Temporary residents who are covered by a ministerial order
 New Zealand citizens

Visitors from countries that have a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with Australia may also be
eligible to enrol in Medicare.

Medicare covers or contributes to the cost of:
 General practitioner (GP) visits
 Treatment in a public hospital
 Specialist consultations out of hospital
 Tests requested by a doctor, for example blood tests and X-rays
 Eye checks performed by an optometrist
 Limited dental care for children
 Some allied health services
 Some prescription medicines

Medicare pays a rebate towards the cost of health care services. Medicare rebates are paid as a percentage of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) fee for the relevant MBS item. If the cost of the health care services exceeds the amount paid by Medicare, the remaining balance is paid by the patient themselves. This is known as the ‘out-of-pocket cost’ or ‘gap fee’.

Some doctors accept the Medicare rebate as full payment so there is no gap fee payable by the patient. This is known as ‘bulk billing’.

Treatment in a public hospital is free for Medicare card holders.

The private system

The private health system includes health care providers that are owned and managed privately, such as private hospitals, pharmacies, medical specialists and allied health providers.

It’s funded by patients paying directly for private treatment, private health insurance premiums paid by patients, government incentives on private health insurance, and a range of other government and private funding sources.

OSHC and OVHC from Allianz Global Assistance

Visitors to Australia who are not eligible for Medicare must pay the full cost of any medical treatment they receive, unless they purchase private health insurance designed specifically for visitors or overseas students, i.e. an Overseas Visitors Health Cover (OVHC) or Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) policy. This type of cover is a compulsory requirement of some visa types (condition 8501).

OSHC provides similar cover for overseas students as Medicare provides for Australian citizens and eligible residents.

OVHC Budget Visitors Cover provides cover for hospital, ambulance, rehabilitation and repatriation.

OVHC Standard Visitors Cover provides all of the above as well as GP visits, prescribed medicines, pathology, radiology and other specialists.

Allianz Global Assistance can also provide separate optional cover for things like dental, optical and physiotherapy. We call this additional cover OSHC Extras.

Allianz Global Assistance has a network of direct-billing medical providers who submit patients’ claims for treatment directly to us. That means the patients are not required to fill out and submit claim paperwork to us. Visitors can also search for direct-billing doctors near them via the Find a Doctor section of our website and see at a glance whether gap fees are applicable or not.

Here’s what one of our customers had to say about us:

“The application was very user-friendly and the process of submitting a claim was simple and fast. The follow-up emails were also very efficient and gave me the security of using this. It was a good experience.” – Tevita, Australian Capital Territory We are proud to have an average 4.2/5 star rating on Product Review across our OSHC and OVHC products from a total of 1,390 reviews.

What should visitors do if they are sick or injured?

In a medical emergency, the patient should go straight to the closest hospital emergency department or call 000 for an ambulance.

For anything that is not life-threatening, the first port of call should always be a GP. Some visitors to Australia may be used to going straight to hospital for general medical care, so it’s worth emphasising that hospital emergency departments in Australia are only for emergencies.

From there, a GP may organise tests to help make a diagnosis, or refer the patient to a specialist or hospital for further care.

You can point your clients to the Find a Doctor section of our website to locate their closest GP and see their contact details to get in touch and make an appointment.

Allianz Global Assistance also offers a Telehealth Service where patients can speak to a qualified doctor 24/7 via phone or video call. Please note this service is not available to OVHC Budget Visitors policy holders.

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